High school in the United States represents the final stage of secondary education, typically for students aged 14-18 in grades 9 through 12, an experience that became common only in the 20th century. The global concept of a "high school" originated with Edinburgh's Royal High School in Scotland (1128), which inspired America's first public high school model, the Boston Latin School (1635). However, Dedham, Massachusetts, pioneered the first tax-supported school system.
Early legislative efforts in Massachusetts in the mid-17th century mandated communities to establish elementary and Latin Grammar schools. Later, figures like Thomas Jefferson (1779) proposed distinct secondary tracks for different social classes. The societal shift from an agrarian to an industrial economy in the 19th century further spurred the need for broader education, leading to initiatives like the New York Public School Society (1805) to provide schooling for the poor.